Portland, OR – June 21, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes Brenda Smola to its Board of Governors. Smola most recently was Honorary Co-chair of the committee for PNCA’s tremendously successful annual Gala, Transformation: Creativity Works Here. This year’s Gala raised more than $500,000 for student scholarships, topping all previous galas. Smola is well known as the creator of Industry & Art, an annual event that brings together artists and the industrial community to raise funds for education and the environment. It is this suite of skills and interests that make Smola the ideal fit for the board of a College that is building bridges between the arts, education, and Portland’s creative sector businesses.

“Brenda Smola is an important addition to our Board of Governors,” says President Tom Manley. “She is already helping to expand PNCA’s rising profile as a center of excellence and innovation. Thanks to her innovative leadership on our 2013 Gala Committee, more community members than ever before viewed our MFA Thesis Exhibition, which was incorporated into this signature annual event for scholarships and programs.”

Brenda Smola
Brenda Smola’s career spans more than 20 years as an award-winning advertising producer, artist, fashion designer, and art show curator-producer working in the worlds of media, fashion, art, and business. She most recently applied her talents and experience to produce Industry & Art in 2011 and 2012, with the goal of bringing together Portland’s established and vital business community with Oregon’s diverse and independent network of working artists. The event raised $50,000 for education and the environment and awarded more than $15,000 to participating artists.

ABOUTPACIFICNORTHWESTCOLLEGE OF ART
As Oregon’s flagship college of art and design since 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art has helped shape Oregon’s visual arts landscape for more than a century. PNCA students study with award-winning faculty in small classes. In the last seven years, PNCA has doubled both the student body and full-time faculty, quadrupled its endowment, and added innovative undergraduate and graduate programs. PNCA is now embarking on its boldest venture yet by establishing the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design as an anchor for the College’s vision of a new campus home on Portland’s North Park Blocks. Focusing on the transformative power of creativity, the capital campaign, Creativity Works Here, was launched in June 2012 with a lead gift from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation of $5 million. PNCA’s new home will be a bustling hub for creativity and entrepreneurship, reflecting the influential role of art and design in our 21st century economy – both in Portland and beyond. For more information, visit pnca.edu.